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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Shoigu, officers,

There is lots of operational training going on this year. Already five unannounced comprehensive troop inspections have taken place. In the end, we were able to get a real picture of the Armed Forces and their combat potential. Together with the results of combat training, this allows us to ameliorate further development of the Armed Forces.

Today we are discussing the preliminary results of the Zapad-2013 joint Russian-Belarusian exercises. They are a landmark event in terms of testing our countries’ defence capabilities and assessing the combat readiness of the Armed Forces and other military structures.

During the exercises, troops performed tasks at seven test grounds in Belarus, two in Russia and in the Baltic Sea. Over 10,000 servicemen took part, who had an opportunity to get to know new weapons and military equipment.

Today we observed the movements of various Armed Forces’ units, and those of other security agencies belonging to both Russia and our Belarusian colleagues. Let me remark that the troops showed a high degree of coordination, and effectively cooperated when solving combat training tasks. We can say that another important step towards full operational compatibility between the Union State’s armed forces has been achieved.

It is precisely in testing grounds that we see how to improve the training and skills of both commanders and soldiers, and develop new approaches towards joint deployment of our countries’ armed forces.

I hope that these exercises will also provide an opportunity to generally assess our long-term plans to improve the security of the Union State.

During the exercises special attention was paid to coordinating the actions of defence ministries and executive agencies, in order to meet the Armed Forces’ needs as they perform defence tasks.

For this purpose, on September 17 the mobilisation readiness of the transport and energy ministries, as well as the administration of Nizhny Novgorod Region, was tested unannounced. In turn, the Interior Ministry Troops resolved problems related to territorial defence.

Preliminary results show that the Russian Federation’s Defence Plan can bring interagency cooperation to a new level, which ensures the country’s organised transition from peace to wartime.

I am certain that this inspection will help develop effective mechanisms for responding to existing and potential threats.

However, as during any inspection process, a number of problems were revealed alongside positive results. Let’s talk about them.

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